The 18 human head specimens that arrived at O’Hare International Airport from Rome just before Christmas were on their way to a research facility in the Chicago suburbs — a facility that is “under investigation,” a source told the Chicago Sun-Times Tuesday morning.Officials initially said a paperwork problem prevented the shipment from being delivered to its final destination, but the Sun-Times has learned that the hold-up is connected to an ongoing investigation at the suburban facility in question. The investigation is “absolutely not” connected to the shipment of the heads, the source said.The heads were shipped from Rome as cargo on a Lufthansa Airlines flight, arriving at O’Hare about one week before Christmas.“They were properly preserved and tagged as human specimens,” said Tony Brucci, chief investigator for the medical examiner’s office.Brucci said U.S. Customs officials at O’Hare initially held up the shipment, when they found the paperwork to be “a little confusing.”Brian Bell, a spokesman with the U.S. Department of Homeland Security, said earlier Tuesday that the specimens appear to be legitimate medical samples.

Silver Fiddle at Western Hero is simply awesome. Seriously, when I declare a blog a must read, I mean it and Western Hero is a definitive must read. Here are two great examples. First Silver Fiddle applauds the efforts of the Mayor of Philadelphia, who is practicing some very serious straight talk.

We should all stand up and applaud Philadelphia mayor Michael Nutter for telling it like it is to the wayward youth of his city

Here’s his message:

“Take those God-darn hoodies down, especially in the summer,” Mr. Nutter, the city’s second black mayor, said in an angry lecture aimed at black teens. “Pull your pants up and buy a belt ‘cause no one wants to see your underwear or the crack of your butt.”
“If you walk into somebody’s office with your hair uncombed and a pick in the back, and your shoes untied, and your pants half down, tattoos up and down your arms and on your neck, and you wonder why somebody won’t hire you? They don’t hire you ‘cause you look like you’re crazy,” the mayor said. “You have damaged your own race.”

He also delivered a message to parents:

“The Immaculate Conception of our Lord Jesus Christ took place a long time ago, and it didn’t happen here in Philadelphia,” Mr. Nutter said. “So every one of these kids has two parents who were around and participating at the time. They need to be around now.”

The mayor told parents, “If you’re just hanging out out there, maybe you’re sending them a check or bringing some cash by. That’s not being a father. You’re just a human ATM. … And if you’re not providing the guidance and you’re not sending any money, you’re just a sperm donor.” (Washington Times)

Finally, he told violent gangs in no uncertain terms that the city is coming after them. They better listen up. This is the city where Mayor Frank Rizzo firebombed a block of row houses going after leftwing radicals.

This is a black man delivering a message to the black young men of his city, but the message transcends race, gender and life’s station. We all need to pull our damned pants up, and pull out heads out.

Excellent! Now, Silver Fiddle talks about what is in my mind, our most sacred natural right, that of self-defense.

What happened to the British bulldog?

Stripped naked, unable to fight back. An apt metaphor. Cameron’s government is talking water cannons when they should be deploying machine guns and restoring the right to keep and bear arms.

This is not a slap at Great Britain. It’s a lament. We’re not far behind.

The End of Progressivism

Is it any wonder looters on Main Street and Wall Street are running rampant? They’ve lived off of government-confiscated loot for so long now, can you really blame them for cutting out the middleman?

Self-Defense: An Inalienable Right

The 2nd Amendment isn’t for hunting. It’s for shooting people who are threatening your life, liberty and property.

When the progressive constituency turns rabid, ordinary citizens must have the means to defend themselves. The absolute right to bear arms is a logical extension of the natural rights to life, liberty and property.

Statesmen from ancient Rome to the American Revolution laid the foundation in law for the right of self-defense. America’s founders were influenced by these classic philosophic teachings and the European tradition derived from them.

“Civilized people are taught by logic, barbarians by necessity, communities by tradition; and the lesson is inculcated even in wild beasts by nature itself,” wrote the great Roman orator Marcus Tullius Cicero.

“They learn that they have to defend their own bodies and persons and lives from violence of any and every kind by all the means within their power.” (Claremont Institute)

Think we should surrender our self-defense rights to the state?

OK, then riddle me this: Does the family of a murder victim have a legal right to sue the state for failing to use its police powers to prevent the murder?

American courts have ruled again and again that police have no duty to protect individuals from deadly assault. The only alternatives for a person in such danger are to rely on the mercy of criminals or to carry a gun illegally. No one should be forced to break the law to exercise a basic right. (Claremont Institute)

Your only recourse is to your natural right of self-defense. Take that away (violate it) and you have deprived a free person of the fundamental right to life. Welcome to progressivism!

Go read the rest, it is full of something that our Founders had, and that most of our current crop of political leaders seem to have never had, wisdom!

“House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi was briefly hospitalized today in Rome after she inexplicably came in contact with holy water in the foyer of St. Peter’s Cathedral.

“Authorities were unsure how the Minority Leader came into contact with the holy water — ‘It’s something she normally avoids religiously, er…’ said a spokesman for Representative Pelosi — but eyewitnesses report some sort of confrontation with an elderly Scandinavian gentleman shouting, “The Power of Christ Compels You!”

The oldest known image of St. Paul was discovered recently on the walls of a catacomb in Rome.Reuters reported:

Vatican archaeologists using laser technology have discovered what they believe is the oldest image in existence of St Paul the Apostle, dating from the late 4th century, on the walls of catacomb beneath Rome.

Vatican newspaper Osservatore Romano, revealing the find on Sunday, published a picture of a frescoed image of the face of a man with a pointed black beard on a red background, inside a bright yellow halo. The high forehead is furrowed.